A decision of the impending fare hike of Indian Railways will be taken within 3-4 days, the Railways Minister DV Sadananda Gowda said here today,
He said this on the sidelines of a meeting with all senior railway board officials, divisional railway managers and general managers, heads of production units and public sector enterprises.
In what could be called Gowda’s town-hall style meeting, the Minister asked suggestions from all officials to suggest how Indian Railways can provide the best service in the world.
Hope you will shed your hierarchical inhibitions and share with us frankly what should be the best way forward for the Railways, said Gowda adding that each of the divisional railway manager is like a chairman, or minister of that division.
“My personal feeling is that those who work on the ground are the Ministers and the Railway Board,” said Manoj Sinha, Minister of State for the Railways. “We may or may not be popular. But we have to take some tough decisions,” said Sinha.
“This is a wind of change. Why I say so is because never before in the history of Indian Railways has there been a gathering like this, in which the GMs and DRMs – who are at the field -- have been invited by Minister of Railways and Minister of State for Railways to address what the new thinking is like,” Arunendra Kumar, Chairman Railway Board, said.
“Ensuring that files move and move for decisions instead of moving for the sake of moving. The past style of working cannot be the future style of working,” said Kumar.
The Chairman said that two things are bothering the staff: the 7th pay commission and some anomalies in sixth pay commission that have not been addressed. Railways need a separate kind of attention from the Government.